Read Online Quest (Shifter Island Book 4) by Carol Davis - Free Book Online

salon, that Luca was perfect, that the two of them were perfect together. Or maybe she’d remind Allison of how hot Luca was. That had been one of her favorite topics of conversation, any time Matt wasn’t around.
    Instead, she said, “It’s huge.”
    “What is?”
    “This whole marriage thing. I keep bouncing back and forth, from thrilled to terrified.”
    “That’s natural. I guess.”
    Julie buried her face in her hands and began to rub her eyes with her fingertips, a maneuver Allison was sure would smudge her eye makeup beyond all repair. Then Julie stopped and lowered her hands so she could stare at her fingers.
    Maybe she’d realized that her makeup was in serious jeopardy.
    “I kept thinking it was all going so smoothly,” she sighed. “Except for the dresses. You know?”
    “Well… sure,” Allison said.
    “Otherwise it’s been, like, smooth sailing. My parents are happy. Everybody’s happy.”
    “But?”
    “We’re so nervous. Me and Matt. We’re just a wreck.”
    Allison wasn’t sure how to promise her that everything would turn out fine—both the wedding day and the marriage. She’d never been married, had never even come close. And she knew a fair number of people whose weddings had gone off flawlessly, but the marriages had turned into a train wreck.
    “Just… love each other,” she said. That seemed like the best choice.
    Julie thought about that for a while, then heaved out a big breath. “And what about you?” she asked.
    “You mean me and Luca?”
    “Obviously.”
    “I don’t know. We’re… having a good time.”
    Another woman came into the rest room and went immediately into a stall. Julie gave her only a disinterested glance.
    “You’re here for the wedding, and he just… showed up over there,” she said.
    “At the house? Yeah,” Allison replied. “It seemed like kind of a weird coincidence. I’m here for the first time in ages—the first time that I’ve stayed for more than a long weekend—and he’s here too. He said—” She looked over toward the row of stalls, unsure why she was hesitant to go on. “His brother just got married, and it made him think about me. So he came here to find me.”
    “And here you were.”
    “And here I am.”
    That made her think of that odd dream she’d had, the one where she and Luca had made love on a grassy hillside and had agreed that they were meant to be together. Even now the dream seemed unnaturally vivid, as if something more than her subconscious had been at work.
    As if something other than coincidence had brought them together.
    “It is odd,” she said to Julie. “All of it.”
    Instead of answering, Julie began a determined study of the hand dryer. She went on staring at it until after the other woman had come out of the stall, washed her hands, dried them, and left the rest room.
    Then she blurted, “There’s something about him. Luca.”
    “What kind of something?” Allison asked.
    “I used to notice it, back then. You know: when we were in school. But I never said anything. I tried not to—because he was yours, you know? You guys were perfect together. But there’s something. Not all the time. I’d notice it when he’d come over and you weren’t there for whatever reason. If you weren’t back from class yet, or you ran out somewhere to get something. If I was alone with him for a few minutes. He never did anything, but…”
    She went back to staring at the hand dryer.
    “Jules,” Allison said. “What?”
    Julie leaned in and examined her reflection in the chrome.
    “What?” Allison said again.
    With a deep, shuddering inhale of breath, Julie turned around and stared deep into Allison’s eyes. “The way—my God. Sometimes he’s just there , and I feel like I want to pull my clothes off and throw myself on the floor so he can… you know. Do it. And I can smell him, Allison. Can you? You have to.”
    Allison had no idea what to say to that.
    “I wouldn’t,” Julie whispered. “He’s